Leveling-rod.



PATENTD AUG. '7, 1906.

E. WISWALL. LEVELING ROD. APPLIcATIoN FILED AP3.7.1906.

3 SHEETS-SHEET WTNESSES A TOHNE YS E. WISWALL.

L'BVELING ROD.

APPLICATION FILED APB 7 1906 www .-EDW IN WISWALL, OFLAWREINCEVILLE,ILLINOIS.

LEvELlNe-ROD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug'. 7, 1906.

Appleman filed A111117, 1906. serial No. 310,448;

To LZZ w/wm/ if may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN WIsWALL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Lawrenceville, in the county of Lawrence and State ofIllinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Leveling-Rods,'of which the following is a specification.

My invention is in the nature of a novel leveling-rod for the use ofsurveyors, engineers, and others in establishingllevels and which shallbe self-reading, or, in other words, shall indicate on its face withoutcomputation the distance in level between any two points, so as topermit of rapid work and avoid the errors incident to computation.

It consists in an endless belt used in connection with the rod proper,which belt is provided with a novel sequence of numbers.

It also consists in a novel construction and arrangement of foot-slide,and, further, in a novel graduated scale designed to catch the eye andfix the reading of the hair-lines from a distance with certainty andwhich scale can be read to one-half a hundredth, all as hereinafterfully described with reference to the drawings, in which- Figure l is afront elevation of the levelingrod. Fig. l:l shows two fragmental viewsof the upper end of the endless number-belt, the view on the left beinga sectional View and that on the right being a face view of a part ofthe belt numbered in a peculiar way in arithmetical progression, kthenumbers of this belt that show at same time being placed opposite thewindows e of the leveling-rod of Fig. 1. Fig. 1b represents fragmentalviews of the lower portion of the number-belt similarly juxtaposed tothe leveling-rod. Fig. 2 is a side view in detail of the sliding target.Fig. 3 is a similar view of the foot-slide. Fig. 4 is a back face viewof the leveling-rod. Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail View of a portion ofthe new graduated scale. Fig. 6 is an enlarged cross-section of theleveling-rod on line 6 6 of Fig. 1. Fig. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectionon line 7 7 of Fig. l; and Figs. 8 and 8a are two halves of a unitaryview of a contour through the earth, illustrating the establishment of achannel for draining a reservoir through the hill, the same being one ofnumerous applications of my invention. In these views on account of thelimitations of a space on the 4 drawing-sheet the right hand of Fig. 8,is supposed to join onto the left hand of Fig. 8, and these edges shouldbe juxtaposed in reading this divided view.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 7, A is thefwooden part of the leveling-rod, onthe face of which on one side (the right side of Fig. l) is displayedthe graduated scale a, an enlarged detail of which scale and the methodof graduation is shown in the fragmental view, Fig. 5. This scale (seeFig. 1) is, as shown, six feet and iifty one-hundredths in length, andat points one foot apart the same numbers are repeated, and betweenthese points the onefoot distance is subdivided into hundredths of afoot and is hereinafter designated as a subscale. The alternate markings(see Fig'. 5) are double the width of the others and are more elongatedand on one side are made to taper wedge shape to the middle line. Thewhite spaces between the black spaces are the same width vertically asthe short black spaces, which is just half the thickness of the largerwedgeshape black spaces. Such white space (and short black space) is inwidth just one-hundredth of a foot. The making of the alternate blackspaces twice as broad, longer, and wedge shape at the inner end is toenable it to beeasily distinguished from a distance and to enable thefigures designating tenths to be identied with the middle of the largerblack spaces.

i Just beneath the subscale a the wood of the rod is grooved out on theedge, as seen in Fig. 6, to receive the sliding shank B of the target B(Shown in detail in Fig. 2.) This target B rests on top of the rod andmay be extended a distance above the same and bears at its lower end apointer b, traveling over the scale a. `This adjustable target isadjusted and fixed in position by a screw-nut B2, Figs. l and 7,which'turns on a screw-threaded stem b3, attached to a yoke b2 Zwhichernbraces the rod A and bears against the puter exposed edge of theshank Blof the target, so that when the target is slid up or extendedand the nut B2 is tightened the shank B of the target Will be clampedand held to its adjustment. In a similar groove in the lower part-of therod is arranged a foot-slide C, which may be extended one foot below theleveling-rod and be fixed in its adjustment a nut C', screwing onto ashank extending laterally through the rod A. This foot-slide also bearsa pointer c, traveling over the subscale a.

On the opposite side of the rod from scale a the Wooden body portion isformed with a shallow groove at front and back to receive an endlessbelt D, Fig. 6, which travels over IOO IIO

` housed or closed in by a .metal facing E at front and back. On thefront this facing is perforated with windows e e e, &c., which are justone foot apart, and through these windows show the figures on theendless belt D. The sequence of these figures is such that at a distanceof one foot apart throughout the belt the figures advance in regulararithmetical progression by ones-fi. e., at the top window 'e the figure.0 of the belt shows. Then at the second window e below the figure 1appears, at the third window e the figure 2, and so on. Between thesefigures showing through the windows at any one time there are otherfigures, as may be seen on the portion of the belt shown in Figs. 1a and1b, uXta- .osed andv set opposite thewindows of Fig. 1.

.Fhese figures at points on the belt one foot apart (the distancebetween windows e) also increase in arithmetical progression byones-that is to say, if the belt is moved up so that 89 on this beltappears through the top window` e then at the neXt window below, or adistance of one foot below, will appear the figure 90 on the belt. Thisenables me within the limited length of a relatively short b'elt D toget numberings which read up to a very much longer measure when viewedthrough the openings. Thus in the levelingrod `of a little over siX feetlong the belt as numbered in the recurring figures of arithmeticalprogression will read up to and serve ythe purposes of aone-hundred-foot tape or more. This numbered tape belt is moved by hand,and for this purpose the casing E is on.

the rear side made wit an elongated hinged door G, which may be`opened'to give access to the belt for turning it, as seen in Fig. 4.The back of the rod has a'scale s, as seen in Figl. 4, which is anordinary self-reading sca e.

The operation of my leveling-rod is as follows, referencebeing had toFigs. 8 and 8a: Let us suppose it is desired to drain a reservoir orlake through a hill by means of a pipe laid on a level with the bottom,the Water in the reservoir being ten feet deep and it being desired toknow at what depth to lay the pipe at stations equal distances apart.Let zero station, Fig. 8, be at the level of the water and zero-levelten feet below or at the bottom of the reservoir. The levelinginstrument I 1s placed at first position, and wishingto give a readingof ten feet at the point cut by the cross-hairs of theI levelinginstrument the rod is adjusted'as follows: Raise the body ofthe rod bypushing down the foot-slide C to get a readin of an even number of feet.Then move t e belt to give the desired number of feet-viz., ten. N ochan e is madein the rod as no w adjusted until theIeveling instrumentis moved and a back sight taken. As the numbering of the rod is from thetop downsaaie@ `ment forward to the second position and take a backsight. The cut at this station 8 or distance to zero-level, as we havealready found, is 13.80 feet, and the rod is readjusted to give thisreading at a point intersected by the line of level of the levelinginstrumentat its second position, as follows: Dropping the rod on thefoot-slide gives a reading of S0/100, and the belt is moved to bring 13to view at the opening above, as seen at We now proceed to take vthelevels at stations 4, 5, and 6, which will be the distances down tozerolevel, as already explained. At station 6 it is necessary to extendthe target B to bring its center to the line of the level oftheinstrument. The pointer l) being four feet from the center of thetarget, the reading, as thus indicated, 13.60 feet, less four feet, willbe 9.6 feet, the correct reading. In like manner the work proceeds andthe level is moved successively to positions 3 and 4. At station 12 wehave a reading of ninety-nine feet, which shows we have passed thezero-point and commenced to run backward on another series of onehundred feet or are ninety-nine feet above a level one hunderd feetbelow the zero we were working from. ISubtracting f 99 from 100 shows usto be one foot below the point desired; but since the zerooint y atstation 12 was in plain view on the face of the rod all that isnecessary is to carry the rod back to where Zero would come to the levelof the eye at the instrument and the foot of the leveling-rod would thenstand at the level of the bottom of the reservoir.

In describing the distance between the windows `e e as being a foot IWould have it understood that this is only to conform to the presentUnited States and British standards of measurement. The space-may be adecimeter or any other accepted unit of measurement.

I claim- 1. A leveling-rod having on'one side a subscale and havingbeside it windows uniformly spaced apart the deiinite distance of anaccepted unit of measurement, in combination with an endless beltbearing numbers which numbers at points spaced to correspond with theWindows increase in arithmetical progression by ones and having alsobetween these numbers other series of numbers similarly spaced andarranged in arithmetical progression.

2. An' endless tape-measure having numbers increasing in arithmeticalprogression, which numbers are uniformly spaced apart IOO the distaneeof a denite unit of measure` ment and having, between this series, otherseries of numbers similarly spaced in arithmetieal progression; incombination with a 'Jhousing having Windows spaced apart the distance ofthe unit of measurement.

3. A leveling-rod having on one side a subsoale and having beside itWindows, anl endless tape housed behind the windovvsi and bearingnumbers in arithmetical progression showing through the windows and anextensible foot. A

4. A leveling-rod having on one sidea subscale and having beside itWindows, an endlessl tape housed behind the Windows and bearing numbersin arithmetical progression showing through the Windows, an extensibletarget and an extensible foot. p

5. A surveyors rod provided with a subscale consisting of alternatinggraduated markings, one set of markings bein of the Width of theintervening spaces and a ternate i markings being of twice the Width ofthe firstnamed markings and extended at oneend to a greater length alongthe middle line and providedwith figures. l

EDWIN WISWALL. Witnesses:

` WILLARD J. WIsWALL,

P. J. CARR.

